Apex
by nFooo
Summary: An unlikely partnership is formed. Harry is driven by an urge to stand at the pinnacle of magic. !OOC !AU
1. Initial Encounter

A young scrawny kid was running as fast he could through the playground while two lanky kids were trailing not too far behind with a fat one troubling to keep up.

"You little freak, I'll teach you some respect," shouted the fat one.

The scrawny kid turned his head to shout back while keeping his pace.

"It's not my fault you finished last in the spelling bee dumbass."

He figured that since he was going to get beat up anyways, he might as well make it worthwhile.

"This time I will fucking make you suffer like never before"

Or maybe it was a bad idea to make the situation even worse than it was.

The small boy kept on running until he was outside of the playground and into an unknown part of town. Thinking he could take a shortcut through an alley, he made a sharp turn right only to find himself faced with a wall he could not climb. He turned around feeling dread and sure enough his only exit was now blocked by the fat kid and his two lackeys.

"Looks like little Harry has nowhere to run to," laughed the fat kid, "Get him!"

The other two children lunged at their victim, but the strangest thing happened. Just as they were about to tackle him to the ground, he suddenly vanished and they fell on the ground, scraping their knees and hands. The trio looked everywhere, but the boy had truly vanished from sight. Completely befuddled, they made their way back.

-

On top of the roof, the vanishing boy was currently lying on his back, breathing hard. Shock was visible on his face and he could not understand what had just happened. One moment, he was getting ready to receive a beating and the next he was standing on top of a roof, completely safe.

A voice broke the sound of his jagged breathing.

"Apparition as your first accidental magic, I have to say I'm impressed Harry."

Said boy turned around and could see a man dressed in a black robe looking down at him. The man had wavy black hair and a piercing stare.

"Who are you? How do you know who I am?" asked the scared boy.

"Who am I does not matter for now. As for how I know who you are, that is simple, I have been stuck watching over you for the past 6 years of your life."

The boy stared at him in disbelief.

"If you had been watching over me since I was 1 year old, how come I have never seen you? How come my family has never seen you?"

The man sighed.

"The reason no one can see me is that I do not possess a physical body. I am connected to you through special magic that is too complicated for you to comprehend. Just now you had your first bout of accidental magic and that caused you to connect with your magical core that had been dormant until now, allowing you to now see me."

"Magic? Sir, I don't mean to be disrespectful, but even I know magic isn't real."

The man looked at him before laughing softly.

"Ah Harry, you will find that magic is most certainly real and is also the reason why your so-called family has been treating you so poorly. If magic is not real, then please explain how you just teleported from the ground to the roof instantly."

Harry was silent for a moment, trying his hardest to find an explanation before shrugging his shoulders.

"You don't know? The reason you can't find an explanation to what just happened is because there is none, other than magic. You are a wizard Harry. You aren't just any wizard Harry, you are the wizard that defeated the greatest wizard of the last century. With my help, you are the wizard who will become the greatest since Merlin."

The man paused, as he could see Harry was getting put off by his sudden intensity.

"Do not worry Harry; we will start from the beginning. What do you say, do you want me to help you learn magic and free yourself from your family?"

At the mention of being free from the torture he had to endure at home, Harry's eyes lit up and he could not stop himself from feeling a surge of hope. It was as if the man in front of him was a guardian angel sent from the heavens to answer his deepest desire.

"Yes sir, I would like that very much" he replied.

"Good, good, now let's start by getting you down from this roof."

As Harry was concentrating on finding a way down from the roof, he failed to see the sinister smile that was displayed on his newly found saviours face.


	2. Time Skip

Harry was sitting on his bed feeling quite lucky because his aunt and uncle had not been informed by his cousin about the events that had transpired earlier in the day. Had he done so, he would have been grounded and might have received some more serious punishment. As he was thinking in silence, the mysterious man reappeared in front of him.

"All right Harry, now that you are alone, we can start your magical training."

"Will this magical training give me freedom from my aunt and uncle?" the boy asked.

"Indeed it will. Now stay quiet while I explain the basics of magic to you. The standard method of teaching magic in Europe and North America is to start at the age of 11 and higher. At this age, you reach your magical puberty and your core starts growing in power, allowing you to cast spells through the use of a magic wand. Before your magical puberty, your core is still forming and is incompatible with a wand; this is why there are no elementary magical schools. Once your core is fully formed, it becomes much easier to connect it to a wand and permits the use of a wand as a channel for your magic, concentrating it and making spells easier to use."

The man paused.

"That being said, there are ways to train magic before the age of 11. Though they are relatively unknown, I came around such methods during my researches into the nature of magic. You are not familiar with the magical world and therefore you are unable to appreciate just how lucky you are to have me as a teacher Harry. By the time you arrive at Hogwarts at the age of 11, you will already be much stronger than most of your peers. The secret to training your magic before your core has matured is quite obvious when you think about it; it is to learn how to cast magic wandlessly. Before the advent of wands, mages would cast magic wandlessly. The invention and perfection of the art of wand making has allowed the average quality of wizards and witches to rise far above what it used to be. However, it is my belief that using such a crutch is actually a hindrance to the few wizards and witches who had the ability to reach the rank of mage. The difference between wizards and mages is also something that is known only to a few select individuals. If you show the capacity to become one, when the time comes I will guide you on that path. For now, all you have to know is that powerful wizards have the ability to evolve their core, becoming what we call mages, an entity even more powerful than a wizard. I was one of only two mages in Great Britain before I was reduced to this state by a series of unfortunate events."

The man paused once more and looked down at Harry to make sure he was following. He was pleasantly surprised to see the young boy looking concentrated.

"Your training before the age of 11 will involve becoming familiar with your magic through meditation. We will be focusing on mind arts mainly, since they require skill and finesse but little power in most cases. This magic will also allow you to control your pathetic muggle relatives."

A confused look appeared on Harry's face.

"Muggles, sir?" he asked.

"That's the term for those who are inferior to us, those that cannot practice magic. Before we being, have you anymore questions?"

Harry had a look of concentration on his face.

"Just one question sir, I would like to know your name."

"You may call me Tom."

The older man floated around the small cupboard, lost in thought. Had he been in possession of a physical body, he would have been quite uncomfortable. The cupboard was very small, the only furniture being a small bed taking up most of the available space. The air was slightly dusty and spider webs could be seen in the top corner of the roof.

"Very well, let us begin. As you do not possess a wand and cannot use one until you are older, you must manually access your magical core. Normally this is something experienced wizards attempt once they have been accessing it through wands for a while. Trying it at this stage will be more difficult, however, should you be successful, your proficiency at wandless magic will be much higher than if you had learned this skill later on in your life. First off, I will teach you meditation. You must enter a state of total calmness before attempting to locate your magical core with your inner senses. Once you have attained this calm state and located your magical core, it will be much easier to manually access it and begin channelling your power into spells. First of all, I want you to close your eyes and breathe slowly in and out..."

The lesson continued in this fashion for another hour, before Harry was too tired and had to go to bed. 

* * *

One week later, Harry and Tom were once again in the same position at night; however Tom had a look of total shock on his face. A small rock was currently floating around in the air in front of Harry. The rock was going up, down, left and right at Harry's mental command. This advancement in magic was unheard of. Experienced and talented wizards could learn to cast Wingardium Leviosa wandlessly in a single session, but this was a child who had never done magic before. Furthermore, he had only been practicing an hour every night for the past week. To be able to cast this spell at the age of seven in less than a week was an incredible feat!

"Okay Harry, maybe you aren't as talentless as I feared. Now that you have managed to cast your first spell, you have attained the minimum required magical power to start learning the mind arts. As I had said before, you do not require much power to use them, especially on Muggles, but even on wizards who aren't trained in Occlumency. However, this will necessitate a lot of hard work. You have shown some aptitude for meditation so this should not impossible for you. To start off, I want you to enter the state of calmness, however, do not try to locate your magical core this time but rather visualize an empty room. This empty room represents your mind."

After a couple of minutes, Tom could see that Harry had entered the required state. His breathing was perfectly regular and his posture was perfectly still.

"Now, I want you to add a large drawer cabinet with multiple drawers. Each drawer represents a type of memory. One can be happy memories, another sad memories, another one difficult trials you had to go through, another one has all the skills you have learned and so on. I will let you organize your drawer as you see fit. Once that is done, you will imagine that this room is surrounded by strong walls. This will be your defence from mental attacks. I expect this to take you at least a week to get the basics down, afterwards, I will teach you how to use mental attacks, and this will allow you to control your relatives."

Harry hesitated a bit, "Teacher, isn't it wrong to use magic to control my relatives?"

A tick of annoyance could be seen on Tom's face. "Have you forgotten how your relatives have treated you? They have treated you absolutely horribly since the day you arrived in their household while you have been perfectly polite and subservient. Furthermore, it is your right as a wizard to rule over muggles, just as it is the right of humans to rule over animals. You were born superior to them, it is only right for you to use your superiority." Sensing that Harry was still not convinced, Tom continued, "Listen, you won't be doing anything drastic. All that you will do is make them forget you have ever existed. From what I understand of the Muggle system, as long as they withdraw your name from school and give a good excuse, no one will come looking for you. Once that is done, I will bring you to the magical world, where you will access your heritage and find a place to stay and practice magic."

A week passed and Harry obtained the required skills to execute Tom's plan. Following his instructions, he wandlessly obliviated his relatives, making them forget he had ever existed. Tom had thought a month of practice would have been necessary, but once more, Harry exceeded his expectations. The last instructions Harry had for his relatives was to send him away on a taxi into London.

Tom made him stop in front of a pub and Harry discovered the magical world. He wore a baseball cap to hide his lightning scar, apparently Tom thought it was best for him to hide his identity. They went through Diagon Alley and visited Gringotts Bank, where Harry was able to access his trust vault. He explained to the Goblins (after getting over his initial shock at his first encounter with non-human magical creatures) that he had a falling out with his muggle relatives and needed a place to stay. They arranged for a studio not far from Diagon Alley, using money from his main vault. Though he could not access it until he was 18, he was allowed to use it to pay for necessities, such as lodging and education. 

* * *

The years passed and under Tom's tutelage, Harry learned more about magic than most people ever would. His education however was very lopsided, he was extremely advanced in things like mind arts and accessing his core, yet he had little to no experience in practical applications. Tom explained that until he reached 11, he could only work on the basics, such as becoming more familiar with his magic. However, he had to wait for it to fully form before he could start casting stronger spells and also using his mediation techniques to strengthen his core, another skill that was unknown to most wizards. If he tried strengthening his core right now, there was no telling how his core would be affected and it might not ever fully form.

Tom also showed him a way to diagnose the level of someone's core. This way of measuring was not a perfect representation of magical prowess, but it was a good estimation. While someone with a weaker core might possess such skill that he may overpower most people who have a stronger core than him, the general rule is that the stronger the core, the stronger the wizard.

Four years passed by quickly while Harry was reveling in his freedom. Under the influence of Tom, he developed an obsession for power and knowledge. While he had no way to practice magic, he had done more than practice the mind arts. His personal library now contained over 100 books on subjects ranging from transformation and charms to necromancy and ancient runes.

Harry had no special interest for the practice of the darker arts, but was still interested in them in an academic sense. Thanks to the constant tutoring of Tom and the benefits of occlumency, Harry had an intellect that surpassed his age.

Tom had also revealed the truth about the death of his parents, how he had been the one to kill them. At first Harry was shocked and wanted nothing to do with Tom or Voldemort, as he was once called, but he had eventually forgiven Tom. After all, he was the only one who Harry could rely on. Furthermore, Tom had explained to him his theories on why he had gone from being Tom Riddle and had become Lord Voldemort and why he was in his current ethereal state. According to him, he had accidentally created a Horcrux, which was a piece of his soul that would survive the death of his body. Normally Horcruxes were created by using inanimate objects. Tom believed that this unusual situation was what had helped this version of himself regain sanity and reform into a new existence.

Tom still had the same qualities that had made him a Dark Lord; he wished for immortality, had a thirst for knowledge and believed himself superior to others. However, his taste for needless cruelty and unsavoury activities such as wanton murder were not originally present in him. According to him, the creation of too many Horcruxes, as well as his dabbling in forbidden magic had affected his personality and made him slightly insane, as well as exacerbating the darkest parts of his personality.

The Tom that was currently living inside Harry's scar was very similar to the Tom during his Hogwarts years. While he wished for power and authority, his desire was lesser, but still wanted immortality. In exchange for Tom's tutelage, Harry had agreed to help him find a new body once he had reached a necessary proficiency in wizardry. 

* * *

With his head filled with thoughts of the future, Harry arrived at Platform nine and three quarters to officially start his magical education. Two weeks earlier, Harry had received his Hogwarts letter without any problems and had replied quickly, informing the Hogwarts staff that he would not require any help acquiring his items and reaching the Hogwarts Express. Since the reply was quick and everything seemed in order, Professor McGonagall did not think it necessary to double check the letter or to check up on him. Therefore, neither she nor Dumbledore, the Hogwarts headmaster, had any idea that Harry had been living alone for the past four years.

The sun was shining and the air was crisp and clear on that day. A young wizard made his way through the barrier in between platforms nine and ten, ignoring a red-haired matron that was making a scene, wondering out loud where the barrier was. Today was the day that the Harry would officially make his debut in magical society; today was the first step towards a revolution the likes of which magical society had never seen.


End file.
